The present invention relates generally to an hydraulic WHEEL, wherein linear flow of a pressurized fluid, initiated from an exterior remotedly located source, is converted directly in a rotary motion of the rotor means by an hydraulic energy converting device. This invention relates to improvements to known fluid motors serving as a direct driving hub particularily adapted to supply torque to driving means releasably mounted theron such as: a pneumatic tire, a belt pulley, or other suitable driving attachments, or a combination thereof. The said fluid motor comprising a basic stationary portion and an exterior rotable portion, being so constructed and arranged as to form the direct driving element cased within the driven element of the wheel to propel a vehicle or to motorize a stationary machine or a combination thereof.
Previously disclosed hydraulic wheels, fabricated by conventional foundry and machine shop methods, using heavy weight marial such as ferrous metals, result in a bulky heavy weight and costly product suitable for low speed industrial machines in which suspended weight is no problem. Moreover, such a product is not adaptable to rapid, low cost, mass volume production by new modern manufacturing methods and processes such as injection die cast molding.
The present invention presents drastic modifications to known hydraulic wheels in order to reduce suspended weight when applied to fast moving vehicles such as automobiles and derivatives, and by adapting the design to low cost rapid mass production by using light weight easily processed materials such as the new reinforced polymer plastics having proven required characteristics, and also titanium alloy for the metal parts as the spindle.
Inherently, hydraulic wheel II is designed to operate in both directions of rotation with equal efficiency, symmetrical wheels can be mounted on either side of a vehicle capable of moving in both directions at equal speeds. The wheels can be used for dynamic braking by simple reversable fluid flow device, thus preserving conventional service brakes for life-time emergency and parking facilities.
Hydrau-static drive directly applied within the wheels offers great potentialities for automotive propulsion, especially when applied to multiple wheel drive as for "Jeeps", "Allterrain" trucks, farming and industrial machines. The substitution of: the live axles, angular gears and differentials, flexible shafts, transfer case and costly transmission elements by a far much simplified and less prime and maintenance cost hydraulic direct drive system, affording better traction, easy control and infinite speed range, should in a near future provide a good option for automotive vehicles, farm and industrial machines.